Ganguly doesn’t think Pakistan can be banned: The former Indian captain opined that banning a country might not be possible for ICC.
Since the unfortunate Pulwama attacks, there have been widespread calls of India boycotting their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 match against Pakistan. There have also been calls regarding the International Cricket Council boycotting Pakistan from the entire tournament.
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There is no hiding to the fact that both the steps will involve massive ramifications. Moreover, boycotting a match or the whole team won’t solve the real issue either.
In a recent interview with India TV, former India captain Sourav Ganguly opened up on the second option saying that banning Pakistan is a big thing and seems unlikely. “The government has already defined the terms as far as bilateral series between India and Pakistan is concerned.
“India and Pakistan don’t play bilateral series. The last bilateral series was played in 2006. However, I doubt the prospects of banning Pakistan from World Cup or international cricket. It is a big thing,” Ganguly was quoted as saying.
The 46-year old went on to that ICC and the World Cup are two separate institutions and the former banning a team from the entire tournament won’t be possible. Ganguly didn’t hesitate from saying that there is a less than one percent chance of Pakistan getting banned.
“The ICC is a separate institution, World Cup is a separate institution and I feel it is very difficult to implement this here. This is my personal view that banning Pakistan from World Cup or international cricket won’t be possible. World Cup is still far away and we will see what happens then.
“But in my opinion, it will be very difficult for India or the Indian government to go to ICC and ask for a ban on Pakistan from World Cup or international cricket. There’s less than even one per cent chance of this happening,” he said.
As mentioned by Ganguly above, India have denied to play against Pakistan in bilateral series. Before concluding, he asserted his opinion of doubts over India being able to convince the ICC to boycott Pakistan.
“You can boycott a particular country in bilateral series but it won’t be easy do the same in World Cup or international cricket. I can’t say on whether India will be able to influence the ICC to ban Pakistan from World Cup as it’s a very difficult thing to do.
“You just saw how the International Olympic Committee reacted when India denied visas to Pakistani shooters [participating in the ISSF World Cup in Delhi]. So, it’s not an easy task,” Ganguly concluded.
Earlier, Ganguly had stated that India should boycott the match against Pakistan. Most recently, he cleared the air regarding a rift with Sachin Tendulkar over the same issue.
